Dive Report: Miss Louise

[Hetland]

Decided at the last minute to dive the Miss Louise in Destin. Got a late start, and ended up at the dive site just after the sun dipped into the horizon.

Once we were anchored up we entered the water, but one of the divers decided to sit the first dive out. Somehow during boat re-entry, a weight pouch went to the bottom, so we added a salvage mission to the dive.

Once we got going, we found viz at the bottom near 20, with lots of loosely packed particles whirling around. We were immediatly met by packs of curious 9" squid. Apparently there was magic in the air, as there were several pair that were snuggling in the moonlight, including one group of 4 that was.... well, you get the idea

We found the missing weight pouch quickly, and set out for the anchor line. Once we found the wreck, we checked on anchor placement, and started exploring.

I immediatly spotted a 7' shark (my first!) that appeared to be snoozing near one of the holes in the deck. I immediatly went for my dive partner, to share the encounter, but by the time we made it to the spot, the shark was gone

We spent a few more minutes exploring the wreck, and then hit 20 for our 3 minute stop. We saw a few small snapper, a trigger, bristle worms, sea cucumbers, hardheads, comb jellies, moon jellies, and the usual sponges and soft corals. Bottom time was 27 minutes (lots of swimming) Max depth was 56, average was 43, and bottom temp was 73

After our SI, we descended the stern again, and found viz down to 15 or less. The weight pouch we set down next to our descent anchor was...... missing There were no drag marks in the sand, but we eventually found the pouch about 20 yards away. WTH? How does a weighted pouch travel 20 yards with no current, or drag marks spooky.

Once we secured the weight pouch to the descent line, we hit the wreck again, and spotted an octopus on the deck. He must have thought I could not see him, because he let me snap a few pics before he dropped into a hole in the deck (which he had been covering with his body).

I circled back to his area several times during the dive, and he was brave enough for me to snap a few more pics before I decided to let him go back to eating crabs.

After visiting with our octopus buddy a bit, we headed back to where the pilothouse used to be (where the shark was before). Sure enough, sharky was back in his/her spot just taking a break. This time my dive buddy got a look too. I tried to snap a pic, but you can imagine that setting a strobe off in a sharks' face might not be the smartest thing in the world to do, so I was not able to get any useable pics

I did get a pic of the Florida "king" crab. Apparently, this guy was in charge of the Miss Louise, and sharks, divers, and even an octopus would not take his spot as king of the mountain. Perhaps he was the one who had relocated the weight pouch?

We hit the line, and started our 5 at 20. About 1 minute in I was popped in the midsection by a fast swimming squid that then proceed to ink me :11: We had a botom time of 42 min at a max depth of 57 feet. Average depth was 43, and temp was 73. I'm still working on an i.d. of the shark. I had initially thought it was a nurse shark because of the shape of the tail, but the color and head shape were all wrong.

I can't wait to dive the Miss Louise in the day time, but it was a very enjoyable set of night dives, and I look forward to visiting her again.

(edit: pretty sure it was a sand shark)

 

[denisegg]

Wow Hetland!! You had quite an adventure and got some awesome pics. I have never seen an octopus out like that where you can see it. The only ones I have ever seen were under rocks or coiled up in a pipe.

Of course something spooky had to happen to you. You wouldn't feel comfortable if you didn't have a few run ins with some critters.

 

[EnronX]

Great Report Hetland...thanks for the post. If it wasn't a nurse, what other species could you have found there?

I'm actually in Destin this on vacation and took a class with my father (to get my dad his card) at Scuba Tech. We're going diving Tuesday morning on the jetties, but I'd love to go Saturday to either a wreck like Louise or Baybridge rocks (I heard from our DM that both are the best boat dives in the area) He even told me he saw a Whale Shark (!) last week there, I couldn't believe it!

 

[Hetland]

Wow Hetland!! You had quite an adventure and got some awesome pics. I have never seen an octopus out like that where you can see it. The only ones I have ever seen were under rocks or coiled up in a pipe.

Of course something spooky had to happen to you. You wouldn't feel comfortable if you didn't have a few run ins with some critters.

I've only seen octopusses out at night. I keep meaning to catch a crab and offer it to one as a snack, but I never think about it when I'm at depth.

I still can't figure what happened to the weight pouch. That is just freeky!

 

[Hetland]

Great Report Hetland...thanks for the post. If it wasn't a nurse, what other species could you have found there?

I'm actually in Destin this on vacation and took a class with my father (to get my dad his card) at Scuba Tech. We're going diving Tuesday morning on the jetties, but I'd love to go Saturday to either a wreck like Louise or Baybridge rocks (I heard from our DM that both are the best boat dives in the area) He even told me he saw a Whale Shark (!) last week there, I couldn't believe it!

It was a grey nurse shark aka sand shark, aka sand tiger
(see pics of similar sharks below). They are usually not a problem for divers unless they are teased. In May, there was a humpback whale swimming in the same area, so there's no telling what cool stuff you can come across out there.